Out Of Breath
by Rotblume
Summary: "His eyes burnt and his lungs burnt and his heart was still racing, but he was alive and that was all he could ask for." Sequel to "Breath".


The moment they broke through the water surface, Sheppard gulped in lungfuls of air.  
For a short while they just floated there, trying to get their breathings under control, trying not to swallow too much water.

Sheppard might have also been slightly abusing Todd as a pillow, leaning his head against the Wraith's shoulder as his green companion held him up, but then, the Wraith had decided to act as his personal flotation device of his own free will, so he had no right to complain.  
Not that Todd seemed all that unhappy with the situation, his grip tight and almost on the verge of bruising, blurring the boundaries between protective and possessive.

Once they reached a part of the embankment they could actually climb, they pretty much just dragged their sorry and, more importantly, incredibly wet asses out of the water and slumped down on solid ground.  
Todd leaned against a tree, attempting to wring out his hair and his coat, but Sheppard was happy to just lie on his back, arms outstretched, coughing out the water he had more or less inhaled.

His eyes burnt and his lungs burnt and his heart was still racing, but he was alive and that was all he could ask for.  
He risked a glance at his green friend. Well, that and maybe a less 'impending suffocation', 'death at the doorstep' repeat of what had transpired down there in the depths of despair.

Huh, he was getting poetic. Or maybe his brain just suffered from the lack of oxygen. Which also might have prompted his hand to develop its own free will and beckon Todd over.  
From his position, Sheppard could only see the Wraith in the corners of his eyes, but he just knew he had been acknowledged when he heard the kind of long-suffering sigh especially reserved for him that he was certain was more fake than real.

Todd pretty much crawled over to him and had he not already forgiven his companion for the stunt he had pulled up on that cliff, that would have been reason enough to appease him, for when did one see a Wraith on his knees?  
Well, and he saw that his green friend was still bleeding from some of the less severe shot wounds, the ones Todd apparently had as of yet ignored in favor of getting them out of the water.

As his knight in wet leather slowly, carefully approached, hiding away all the pain he had to be feeling, Sheppard tried to assess the state he was actually in, despite the walls and masks already rebuilt, and felt a rush of warmth spread through him at the realization that Todd had once again saved his life, no matter the cost.  
That thought, though, fled his mind just as quickly as it had come, forced aside by the absolutely irrational fear of losing his green companion, a fear that used to rear its ugly head then and when exactly because of his friend's willingness to practically sacrifice himself.

The Wraith were pretty hard to kill and his Wraith was something entirely different, but the blood staining Todd's clothes even darker than usual told another story altogether. Not that high of a probability to get rid of him some time soon, and yet … . And yet -.  
Well, it's called irrational fear for a reason, but it definitely didn't help his blood pressure or his peace of mind or to get some rest in the sleepless nights filled with internal debates on their intricate relationship.

He should just stop that incessant pondering that had caused the one or other headache already, shouldn't he? And now was as good a time as any, wasn't it?  
Either way, it was not as if his green friend was going to stop his routine of saving the small and vulnerable, squishy human at his side, whatever he'd tell him, so Sheppard nodded to himself, eyes lingering on the holes in the black fabric.

Then he glanced up at Todd crouching at his side, by now half leaning over him, half laying on him, only supported by the tense arm holding him upright on his other side. He was fighting a few of the wet strands of his tangled, almost wavy hair behind his ear, but they went right back to hanging in front of his eyes.  
Some water droplets were falling down on Sheppard because of that, but, considering that he was still soaked to the skin, it really didn't make that much of a difference.

"Is it still hurting?"  
"The pain will fade. I can deal with it."

And he sounded so sure that Sheppard closed his eyes and allowed himself the tiniest of smiles, reassured for the moment. "So, it won't be a problem if I do this?"

And with that he grabbed the Wraith by the collar of his coat and pulled him down, down until their lips met, and he had to hold his breath again, just like he had done under water.  
He didn't dare to peek a look at his companion's face, but Todd quickly recovered from the shock, rigid shoulders easily adapting to a more comfortable position.

Sheppard could feel the Wraith grinning against him, his answer a murmured, "Did you want to wait for an even more obvious invitation?", before he took all his breath away.


End file.
